Environmentally sound landfill space is becoming increasingly scarce throughout the United States, particularly in the more densely populated urban and coastal areas. Older landfills are closing at a rate far exceeding the opening of replacements. Landfills are closing because of a variety of reasons including threat to the environment, refusal of the surrounding community to accept the continued operation of the landfill as is, and full utilization of available space.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to site new landfills because, for example, of environmental regulations that do not allow landfills to be located on "marginal" land (e.g., land generally not suitable or desirable for commercial or residential purposes) which is where many of the older landfills are located. As older landfills close, new landfills must compete for non-marginal land which can be put to other, and some think better, uses. Evidence of this competition can be seen from the relatively few sitings of new "greenfield" landfills in the more populated areas of the U.S.
Incinerators were once thought to be a solution to the problems presented by landfills, but incinerators have met with such public opposition that they are not likely to be the total solution. Also, incinerators and other known mainstream waste management technologies typically require landfill space as a component in their overall approach to waste management. For example, recycling and incineration can each reduce the volume of waste, but landfill space is still required for the disposal of non-recyclables and ash. Thus, while the volume of waste which must be disposed of in a landfill can be decreased by these and other known waste management programs, it generally is not possible to eliminate the need for landfill space. Those knowledgeable in the field of waste management agree that landfill space will be increasingly valuable in the next decade and beyond.
One waste management program which has been relatively successful (e.g., it accounts for most of the new landfill capacity in urban areas of the U.S.) is the expansion of the size (area) of some existing landfills. The existing landfills which have been expanded in size generally are well sited to begin with and also have community support for continued operation.